DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTERThirty years of Teaching, Learning, Caring for marine mammals and the environment we share.DRC is a nonprofit marine mammal education and research facility located in the heart of the fabulous Florida Keys. Home to a family of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions, DRC offers a variety of educational, fun, exciting programs, and close-up interactions. We hope you enjoy our blog!

Thursday, April 9, 2015

For the past 30 years, Dolphin Research Center has been
dedicated to teaching, learning and caring about marine mammals. As a family,
the education process is mutual and the dolphins teach us something new every
single day. This certainly rang true when Kelly Jayne began training a back
flip to our resident Flipper
granddaughter, Gypsi. While Kelly Jayne has an excellent relationship with
Gypsi and the two of them work together often, teaching the young dolphin her back
flip is an example of the importance that communication plays when working with
marine mammals.

Trainers use a device called a target pole to act as an
extension of the arm. The dolphins touch the buoy on the end of it and
understand that in order to complete a behavior, they need to follow the
pattern of the target pole. With an aerial behavior, like a flip, the trainers
first introduce the action to the dolphins in water. Kelly Jayne moved the
target pole under the surface to shape a flip and a half which leadsto the dolphins re-enteringthe water head first for the completed
behavior. Gypsi followed. Every time the athletic little girl completed the
turn and a half, Kelly Jayne blew her whistle to let Gypsi know she’d correctly
completed the behavior. Slowly, they began working higher up out of the water
and Gypsi understood that the completed behavior was a high energy aerial.

The most difficult part of the training was getting Gypsi to
then do a flip and smack the target pole with her tail so she understood that
she needed to get her entire body out of the water and rotate. How Kelly Jayne
worked on this part of the behavior was to blow her whistle every time Gypsi’s
tail touched the buoy in the air. By blowing the whistle at that point, Gypsi learned
that she had completed the behavior whenever her tail hit the target pole and
was bridged for it.

What the trainer didn’t account for was the need to teach Gypsi
to re-enter the water in a graceful manner – rostrum first Instead, Gypsi inadvertently
learned to get her entire body in the air for the flip, but then she crashes
back into the water with a belly flop.
While not the behavior Kelly Jayne had in mind, she can’t fault her for
learning exactly what she was being taught.

This is a great example that we like to share with our
guests about the importance of continuing to learn about interspecies
communication and the way a dolphin’s mind works. In the past 50 years, those
who care for marine mammals have learned a lot about them but there is still so
much more to continue investigating. This exercise with Gypsi, which provides
her with both mental and physical stimulation, is also a learning experience
for the trainers that enables us to think about how to continually communicate
with our dolphin family in a manner that sets them up for success.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Every day, guests from all over the world who visit Dolphin
Research Center are able to get up close and personal with the resident
dolphins and sea lions. As it is illegal to interact with wild marine mammals,
visiting them at facilities like DRC enables people to follow their curiosity
and get to know these amazing animals on a more intimate level. Louie, a
rescued dolphin who was found covered in oil on a beach in Louisiana when he
was under a year in age, acts as an ambassador to his wild cousins every day.

While conversing with guests, we are able to tell each
individual’s story. Louie’s history resonates with people globally, as the
reason for him being a DRC family member stems from human error. In 2010, there
was an accident in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil spilled out into the ocean and
caused massive chaos in the oceans and many Gulf-side towns. DRC was not
affected by the oil spill, but as an organization whose mission is to educate
the world about marine mammals and the environment, it tugged at our hearts to
know the possible detriments.

Despite the accident and only being given a 5% chance to
live, Louie not only survived, he thrived. He puts a face to the oil spill
disaster. He was a dolphin who needed a home and fell right into our mission of
providing a forever place for marine mammals in need. Our Theater Presentation,
“Survivor Stories”, gives us a chance to focus on him,along with the two other rescued family
members, Jax and Lina. Jax was the victim of a shark attack who was found alone
at under a year in age and Lina was a repeat strander who had not learned to
forage on her own. Louie, Jax and Lina were all deemed unreleasable by the
government and in need of a home. Now, they have a forever family and home here
at DRC.

As a not for profit, we couldn’t provide homes to Louie and
the rest of the animals without your support. The animals always take
precedence above all else. We thank you, our supporters for enabling us to
provide a home to both the marine mammals who needed a home and those who were
born here.